Cradle of Filth frontman discusses ‘Hammer of the Witches’ album title, recording in new video trailer

Cradle of Filth’s highly anticipated and caliginous creation, Hammer of the Witches, is set for release this Friday, July 10, the first global release for Nuclear Blast. In the final trailer detailing the making of the new album, Dani Filth discusses the album’s title and how it was recording with Scott Atkins. Watch the trailer on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/4tGTAbW9AGw.

Hammer of the Witches, was brought to fruition in Britain’s Witch County, in darkest rural Suffolk at the reputedly haunted Grindstone Studios. The album’s title is named after the ‘Malleus Maleficarum,’ a medieval document of guidelines regarding the persecution and torture of witches – but Cradle of Filth’s title version is more retributory: It’s the Hammer of the Witches; the hammer is in the witches’ hands and it’s payback time.

The official video for “Right Wing of the Garden Triptych” was filmed in an old jet-engine testing hangar at a former military base and was directed by Sam Scott-Hunter (Devilment, Slipknot, The 69 Eyes), who also took the band’s promotional photos. As well as featuring Dani Filth and his troop of reprobates, model and Kinbaku enthusiast Gestalta also makes an appearance. Watch how the idea came about and what the band had to say about the video here: https://youtu.be/LU_Rv9AUUCY.

Dani Filth commented on the making of the video: “The video for ‘Right Wing Of The Garden Triptych’ was an immense thrill to film as it was undertaken in a jet-engine testing hangar at a former U.S. Military base close to my home town of Ipswich, followed by an equally surreal afternoon spent under the aerobatic flightpath of the Imperial War Museum. Directed by Sam Scott-Hunter, the video is a realized phantasmagoria of horror and hell-bound heartistry, fully encapsulating the beautality of the first single from ‘Hammer Of The Witches,’ and if my flagrant play-on-words doesn’t pique your interest, then the fact that it features a renowned rope bondage queen and the band in full swing just possibly might.”

Verbose mouthpiece of Hell, Dani Filth, tells us a bit more about the album artwork in another teaser video at: http://youtu.be/fL6jInrLTBA.

The artwork was created by Arthur Berzinsh (http://www.berzinsh.lv) who is best known for his defiant neo-symbolism raster graphics and oil paintings, postmodern interpretations of classic myths and refined hooliganism in the playground of contemporary art. He has been proclaimed as a ‘sacred monster of Latvian postmodernism.’ And rightly so, his visually expressive and mannerly works tend to trigger emotions which can make thoughts fidget and wriggle, unable to find a comfortable position among the impressions gathered. His creative work is characterized by a varied range of voluptuous erotica, intensified imagery, dream-like scenes and decorativeness weighed down by visual metaphors and contrasts teetering on the edge of symbolism.

Another Hammer of the Witches track, “Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess,” can be streamed on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/5Zj5g3bTWQ0.

Dani Filth commented on the track: “‘Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess’ is based on the ancient belief of the world personified as Mother Goddess, concerning itself with her self-preservative measures when assailed by her final abuse by the human race. Violated, poisoned and unknowingly left for dead, Gaia’s is a pre-emptive, violent and justified retribution; without tears for creed or culture. Nature versus Mankind. A total renewal of species. The song spirals onward at a frenetic, apocalyptic pace to climax and was originally one of guitarist Ashok’s contributions to the album, along with ‘The Vampyre at My Side.'”

Dani elaborated on the track: “Lyrically the track ‘Enshrined in Crematoria’ is hilted in the legendary Ark Of The Tragedian, the poet’s Holy Grail. It is the author’s inspiration personified as a tombed angel, much like that of Poe’s pale obsession, and the magickal ‘midnight’ ritual wherein she is conjured forth as a reincarnation of his lost love, to provide forbidden artistic sustenance. It is imagination’s utter peak and fuel for a literal literary madman. ‘Enshrined in Crematoria’ is at essence the first of guitarist Richard Shaw’s contributions to the new album, before the full band took it by the teeth and spat it into light.”
Pre-order Hammer of the Witches from iTunes to receive “Enshrined in Crematoria” as an instant-grat track at: http://nblast.de/COFHammeriTunes.
Stay tuned for more information on Cradle of Filth and Hammer of the Witches, out this week on Nuclear Blast.

Walpurgis Eve

Yours Immortally…

Enshrined in Crematoria

Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess

Blackest Magick in Practice

The Monstrous Sabbat (Summoning the Coven)

Hammer of the Witches

Right Wing of the Garden Triptych

The Vampyre at My Side

Onward Christian Soldiers

Blooding the Hounds of Hell

King of the Woods (bonus track)

Misericord (bonus track)

Unquestionably one of the greatest and most influential British metal bands of all time, Cradle of Filth have cast a commanding and macabre shadow across the metal scene for nearly a quarter of a century. Armed with their trademark, cross-pollinated assault, that taps into myriad strands of sonic extremity and morbid opulence, they have steadily conquered the entire world, unleashing a malevolent slew of classic albums along the way. From the raw and rambunctious savagery of their 1994 debut The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh to the wickedly monstrous, technicolour bombast of 2012’s The Manticore & Other Horrors, the Cradle ethos and aesthetic has had a huge impact on the evolution of metal, the band’s insatiable appetite for performing live and frontman Dani Filth’s unerring charisma and sense of occasion ensuring that they have established a powerful and enduring connection with Hell-bound acolytes everywhere.